Volunteers Clean Part Of Island Fort's Shore

HAMPTON — They picked up hard hats and timber, medical vials and a toy gun.

Volunteers pulled just about everything imaginable from the rocky shoreline of Fort Wool on Saturday, part of an effort to preserve the historic site.

This year's prized find: a golf ball.

"It's got to be the longest hit in history," quipped Cheryl Copper, environmental relations manager for Hampton's Public Works Department.

Huge cargo ships and tiny pleasure boats sailed by as nearly 70 volunteers cleaned up the side of the fort that faces Fort Monroe. Some used chain saws to cut up telephone poles that had washed ashore.

"I think we got a good workout," said Jim Buelow, a Navy SEAL who lives in Newport News.

Fort Wool sits near the south island of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel. From the top of its stark gray walls, visitors have a panoramic view of the region: Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach. About 20,000 people visit each year.

"This is a perfect place to have an understanding of the maritime history of Hampton Roads," said Michael Cobb, director of Hampton Historical Collections.

Construction of the fort started in 1819 to beef up the region's defenses. British naval attacks during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 revealed just how vulnerable Hampton Roads was. During the Civil War, Union forces used the fort to battle Confederate ships, and during World War II, it was revived to help protect Chesapeake Bay.

Cobb wants to tell the fort's story with historical markers and an audio-visual display. He also wants to rebuild a barracks that was torn down on the grounds after World War II.

But not everything that's been at the fort for years has historic value - namely, all the garbage that's washed up in the past few decades. Cobb has seen photographs from the World War II era when the coast was free of debris, so he knows it's possible for the fort to look that way. Saturday was the fourth time that volunteers have traveled to the fort for a cleanup, Cobb said.

The job isn't done yet, but Cobb said he saw a lot of progress. Last year, volunteers collected 18 tons of garbage from another part of the island. Copper estimated that they picked up at least that much this year.

Boats and storms account for some of the waste, but even household litter left on the street has washed up at the fort, she said.

The volunteers dumped the garbage into brown trash containers donated by USA Waste. That company, which runs the Hampton landfill, will take it away free of charge.

McLean Contracting, whose giant cranes work on the bridge-tunnel, also played a role: One of the cranes lifted the trash containers from the bridge-tunnel and moved them onto the island. The crane will also carry the containers back, solving the problem of getting the garbage off the island, Cobb said.